McCain Says Senate Silence Was Act of Bipartisanship

By Michael Abramowitz
DENVER -- Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) says he didn't speak on the Senate floor in favor of the economic rescue plan Wednesday night because he didn't think the Democrats wanted him or his politics there, and he did not want to get in the way of bipartisan progress on the bill, according to the Denver Post.

In an hour-long interview here with the Post's editorial board, McCain addressed his silence on the Senate floor, which stood in contrast to Democrat Barack Obama, who delivered a floor speech in favor of the measure. McCain did say he was making calls to House members and had persuaded fellow Arizonan, Rep. John Shaddeg (R) to support the bill when it comes up for another vote this afternoon.

"I have never been any good at threatening people," McCain told the Post.

what the heck is john mcsame talking about? he still lying and that is the reason why he is looking like he is lookinG right now because anybody in there right mind now that. that do not sound right did he just say that obama went and threating somebody to get them to vote for this bill and they went and did it. he sounds like a fool, if i was that person i would have blessed him completely out for telling that lie. that is what i am talking about he can't be trusted if you are a true leader you don't have to go to washington but one time to get something done and i do believe that is what joe biden and barack obama did and you don't have to brag about it either you just do it. and now mcsame is mad so don't none of this surprise me i have been trying to tell people that. that the shift is progress and obama biden will riding to the white house and i am so glad that every thing that john cmcsame do to them it back firers in his face like gov,dean said that that bill did monday when could not figrue out wether our economy was strong aarewas we in a economic crises break news the bill has pass and that is real leadership that i won't in the white house also i beleive that miss palin did do any better than she has in the pass she did not answer the question then and she did not answer the question last night she just answered the question that pratice and that was so obvious. the republicans can believe there own lies if they what to, and that is what made her look like a fool some more and the american people are not nieve to vote for someone like john mcsame breaking news did (it has been 159.000 jobs lost for the month setember along and it more to come if we elect mcsame as bush)everybody did you here what she said last night about jobs and you might just be one of the ones that has lost your job even. if you have a job i am sure you are not going to put it on the line and vote for mcsame & palin this one thing that admire about obama&michelle and biden and his wife they message of change for one. two that obama has story like mine or someone that i know. the issues he stands for. three his mother had to get food stamps at one point while working and going to school, and he had some student loan debt that he had to pay off that im sure that it was not easy. and he saw his mother suffering from cancer and on the phone with the insurance in the hospital trying to get them to pay for her treatmment when they proverly told her like they told my mother (she has COPD) that she had this sickness before she got the insurance and that is a shame that is just a few things my point is that if you have gone throw something you don't have to be trained as miss palin have been, to tell your story that comes natural and but if you ain't been throw nothing you don't have a story to tell and there for you will be trained to tell the american people what you fill like they won't to hear. and that is not honesty and we don't need that for another four years bush told us that in 2000and 2004 and look at shape this country is in and it is just not going to work this time. the american people don't need four more of the same...VOTE OBAMA08 VOTE OBAMA08 BREAK NEWS OBAMA JUST RAN MCSAME OUT OF MICHIGAN HE MOMENTUM IS FADING JUST LIKE THE STAR HIS AD PUT OUT FIVE WEEKS AGO ABOUT OBAMA SAYING THAT OBAMA STAR IS FADING WHEN MISS PALIN HIT THE SEEN LIKE SHE WAS AT THAT AND A BAG OF CHIPS& DIP). (HE IS RUNNING OUT MONEY)NOW THAT IS THE SHIFT IN PROGRESS YOU JUST CAN'T KEEP A GOOD MAN DOWN AND THAT IS OBAMA. SAY JOHN MCSAME DONE WENT TO INDIANA WELL JOHN MCSAME I THINK OBAMA IS COMING THERE TO DON'T BE SCARED LYING GET YOU ON THE BRIDGE TO NO WHERE! HA HA... (I just copy & paste you all some news VOTE OBAMA'08 VOTE OBAMA'08) Senator Palin said to Joe Biden, or Governor Palin said to Joe Biden, that our plans is to get our economy out of the ditch was somehow a job-killing plan, that's what she said," Obama told a crowd of thousands on the football field at a high school in this Philadelphia suburb. "I wonder if she turned on the news this morning.... When Senator McCain and his running mate talk about job killing, that's something they know a thing or two about, because the policies they've supported and are supporting are killing jobs in America every single day." VOTE ABAMA'08 VOTE OBAMA'08

The question about "hating" McCain is a good one and you're right, it's unnecessary and reflects badly on Obama and Biden, who clearly manage not to hate their opponents. And if things are ever going to change it has to change from the bottom up as well. ----- BUT I have to acknowledge that I, at least, do have very strong negative emotion toward McCain. If I try to track it to its roots, there are two sources. 1) One is deep, deep disappointment - that someone I admired so much for so many years has become a travesty of what I always believed he him to be: straight-talker, fair and respectful dealings with everyone, and courage. Instead he is lying and then lying about lying, smearing Obama unfairly and taking cheap shots at Biden, and doesn't even have the courage or good manners to even look his opponent in the eye or meet him halfway across the stage to shake hands. The anger in the Des Moines Register interview, this *bizzare* story above. This is all very repellant in someone I had always respected and trusted ---- 2) And there is even deeper, genuine, straight-out anger that he would put this country at so much peril with his selection of Sarah Palin. He knows his age; he knows his medical history; and he knows that he DOESN'T, couldn't possibly, know her well enough to judge her competence and character!!!! If she'd turned out to be a genius with the wisdom of Solomon, I would still be angry at him because he couldn't have known that! That's my future, my children's future, my grandchildren's future that he's taking a high-risk gamble with and I resent that to the very core of my being. ------- I don't give real respect to public figures often or easily and he's had it for many years. I feel angry at myself for trusting him and angry at him for what feels like betrayal, not only of me and all other Americans but betrayal of the man I believed him to be. And I am more frightened than I have ever been in my life at what might happen to this country if he and she get into the White House. Deep disappointment and fear. Does that equal hate? I don't thiink so, but they are strong, negative feelings I will admit.

Also, McCain did not "suspend" anything. He called David Letterman to say he had to fly back to Washington to take care of the "crisis" and then proceeded to appear with Katie Couric. Then he stayed overnight in New York so he could speak at Bill Clinton's function. THEN AT LAST, he went to Washington. There really was no reason to go there. He's not any of the committees who handle these problems. He went there to change the news story of the day. He did not make any difference and his campaign said after that he was handling things "on the phone". Funny, Obama was doing that for 2 weeks already.
Hmmmmmmm.......

Everything you wrote is direct from a McCain stump speech. Apparently you just take what he says as gospel without doing any research yourself. Why is that? I think some research should be done by everyone before they vote. Don't take the politicians' word or the news media's word. Go to government websites and you can find all the bills, what they said and who voted for them. It's worth the time.

He's not good at threatening people? He is very good at cursing at them. And at calling himself The Maverick. His campaign is a joke, especially when Palin finds out about the Michigan withdrawal in the newspapers. He must really value her opinion! Bye John Boy.

What would John McCain have said on the Senate floor? That he made a fool of himself with the "handling" of the first bill? John McCain is a phoney. I don't think he knows what's going on. Did he even read the new bill? If he did, then he is a COMPLETE hypocrite. There's so much more "pork" in this bill than others have had. YET, even though he has promised to NEVER sign a bill with earmarks, he went ahead and voted yes. Now, is he for or against earmarks? I just can't keep track of his "yeas" and "nays" anymore. They change minute to minute, hour to hour, day to day.

Just wanted to weigh in on "hating" McCain. I don't hate him, I am just so disappointed in him! I was for McCain in 2000, back then he really was a straight talking maverick. He admitted to making a mistake on the South Carolina flag issue and said he wouldn't sell out his principals again. He called the right wing Christians "agents of intolerance," and I thought, "Wow, finally someone with the guts to stand up to the Christian Right!" Where I think it all started going downhill for him was during the 2004 campaign and his decision to actively support Bush, despite all the disagreements they had and during Bush's first term, there were many, including tax cuts. That's when I figured he had sold out to the Bush wing of the party, already knowing full well he was going to run for president in 2008. That's when you started seeing McCain disagree publically with Bush, but then turn around and vote for all his bills. It got worse with the torture laws. He made a big deal about not standing for torture, yet the bill he sponsored and fought for allows "enhanced interrogation techniques." Then, he starts running for President and everything he was in 2000 has been a 180 degree turn. No more straight talk, pandering to the Christian Right, cut off the press, use the same techniques as Rove used on him in 2000 to trash your opponent, after promising a respectful campaign. And the icing on the cake was naming Sarah Palin as VP. She is window dressing, plain and simple. A cheap ploy to try and entice women voters, which smacks of pure sexism to me. Really, does anyone think that Sarah will play any kind of active roll in his administration if he wins? He's gonna say, "You did your job helping me get elected, now go do some mommy stuff and let the men run the country."

So, that's my problem with McCain. He's not the same guy I used to like and admire.

McCain is not even lucid anymore. His eratic campaign and his bizare statements either make no sense or are untrue. He is spiraling down so fast as to loose his viability as a Senator, not just a Presidential candidate.

McCain's campaign announcing they are pulling out of Michigan was the dumbest thing they could have done. That annoucement was like waving a white flag and throwing the first stone in a landslide that will bury John McCain's presidential aspirations. In effect, admitting defeat in Michigan will be a contagious self-fulfilling prophecy in all the competitive states that an Obama victory is inevitably unstoppable.

Generally speaking, why are the folks who are "against" McCain so angry and bitter? If anything, shouldn't they be happy that Obama's message is more focused and thoughtful than McCain's and that most of the media has annointed him; that he seems to be gaining strength each and every day?

Come on Obama people, speak up: tell us guys who don't have a clue where the hate is coming from.
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Thank you one and all for answering my question. I pray to god whoever wins can bring this country together.

Suspend your campaign and rush to the scene (24 hours after pseudo-suspending it) to bring a "bipartisianship" effort to getting the bill passed AFTER a tentative agreement had been reached by the house? OR back off when you can't even bring members of his own party to the affirmative in spite of your endorsement?

Your failure to acknowledge your hand in the grave mismanagement,"deregulation" and unbridled free market trickle down economics for an economic disaster fed by corporate greed is pathetic.

The disaster you, Bush, your fellow Republican cronies, and corporate friends have left this country leaves me nearly breathless with anger!

Action on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac alone is enough to understand how an Obama administration will differ from a McCain administration. Talk vs Action. Biden made a big to-do of Obama's "letter" he wrote to Sec'y Paulson on Freddie and Fannie. Whoopie!! A letter, boy that's strong action!! While Obama wrote a letter, McCain proposed (and was blocked by Democrats including Obama) real legislation to reform and regulate Fannie and Freddie. Letter from Obama, legislation from McCain...

And when this crisis blew up, Obama never made any real proposals, just broad guidelines that were in every Dem's talking points. If you need me, call me. McCain suspended his campaign and went back to Washington and worked with the House GOP to improve the bill and bring them along (which was needed because the Dems weren't going to pass this bill without the cover needed of the GOP also voting for it). Talk (Obama) vs Action (McCain).

Obama talks about bi-partisanship, but has NEVER voted against the hard left of his party, not once, on any issue. McCain, by comparison, has his name attached to almost every major bi-partisan initiative of the last decade (Mc-Cain-Feingold, McCain-Kennedy, McCain-Lieberman, Gang of 14 that he set up). Talk of bipartisanship (Obama) vs Action (record of it by McCain).

Obama is a talker, McCain is a doer. Talk is all Obama has. I sure hope, as he said in the debate last night, Biden is in the room with Obama all the time, on every major decision, otherwise there may never be any decisions made, just talk.

John McCain's actions are clearly passive agressive. My father, who was diagnosed as bi-polar, used to use these very tactics. In other words, McCain thinks he's balancing his temper outbursts by playing the "poor me" card. Pathetic!

"Come on Obama people, speak up: tell us guys who don't have a clue where the hate is coming from."

The anger -- not hate -- comes out of the the fact that McCain has cast aside all of the honor he so painfully won in Vietnam, not to mention the independence he displayed in the 1990's, in his overwhelming ambition to become President. His campaign has followed the traditional Republican slash-and-burn tactics of his unillustrious predecessors. He lies, misrepresents, attributes statements to Obama that he never made, and then denies it all as if it never happened, despite the fact that it's on videotape for all to see.

A lot of my Democratic friends used to admire McCain as someone who was not a slave to the far right wing of the Republican party, but they don't anymore.

You may not like Obama, but you can't deny he has grown over the past two years. John McCain, on the other hand, has shrunk.

This man is incredibly cynical and callous. He injected himself into the house politics a few days back, but he claims that Democrats didn't "want him or his politics there" in the Senate, where he holds a seat and a right, to speak?
This man has it backwards. He says everything when he means nothing and he does nothing, when he should be doing everything he can that he believes in. What does John McCain believe in these days, other than wanting to be President?

In my view, a lot of people are absolutely furious with the Bush administration, and the Manichean nature of political discourse it uses. I had to look Manichean up the first time I saw it, but it fits: the basic idea is that anyone who disagrees with you is evil. There is good, or evil, no in between.

So, for example, anyone who disagrees with Bush's prosecution of the war in Iraq is labeled a traitor. Against his wiretapping? You want terrorist to destroy America.

This kind of mudslinging is infuriating. And it's being practiced by John McCain, and last night, Sarah Palin.

Joe Biden did a masterful job of ignoring Palin's "raise the white flag of surrender" jibe, which was exactly the right thing to do. When she said that, the CNN real-time monitoring dropped right off the chart.

People are tired of being told they must agree with Bush, or now McCain, or they're unpatriotic fools who want terrorists to attack America.

That's one component. There's another component that infuriates people: not leveling with them on very important issues. For example, Palin discussed the $5000 tax credit in her health care response, but failed to mention that the plan taxes employer-provided benefits. When people hear that, they believe McCain/Palin thinks they're stupid and won't notice it. Same with the Social Security "private accounts", and the continuance of the Bush policies. It's the amazing amount of dissonance: say one thing, do another, that gets people angry.

Basically, they believe that John McCain thinks the American public is a bunch of idiots. (I think there is good reason for this belief.)

Given that someone running for President seems to think you're an idiot, why wouldn't you be angry? And angry about the possibility that he might win, like George Bush did in 2004?

As I listen to the President at this time, I have a feeling of what the last eight years could have been if Bush had been a uniter and a "compassionate" conservative. It has taken almost eight years for this guy to learn what humility is and how humbling being President really is. Had the President conducted his two terms in office as he is doing today, the country could have taken a different course. Also, I cannot believe that Bush is actually reacting on the same day.

Now, let's pass the torch to Obama-Biden and start a new season for American politics. Remember, McCain was AWOL this week.

Every time I see another one of McCain's antics, I think, what American in his/her right mind cannot come to the conclusion that he is totally delusional.

"First, I'm(McCain) suspending my campaign to go back to Washington to get the 1st bill passed, he didn't and it (the bill didn't), then "at least I'm in there working hard with Congress and Obama's doing nothing"--HE (McCain didn't and Obama did)
Now he claims he stayed out of it to not get in the way.

When it could really count, McCain was AWOL. Who was sitting on the sidelines now? When it really counted to be in the game, McCain didn't show up!

I understand that McCain, despite his statements about bipartisanship, snubbed Obama on the Senate floor, which was recognized as such by the gallery. I would like to see and hear more about this snub. It just seems that McCain's snub of Obama during the debate is real and intentional. McCain has an attitude problem, and we want this for another 4 years?

So his very public act of injecting himself into the process last week, including a photo-op White House meeting, was what? Followed by publicly taking credit for the package just before it failed? Followed by his not speaking out on the package?

Generally speaking, why are the folks who are "against" McCain so angry and bitter? If anything, shouldn't they be happy that Obama's message is more focused and thoughtful than McCain's and that most of the media has annointed him; that he seems to be gaining strength each and every day?

Come on Obama people, speak up: tell us guys who don't have a clue where the hate is coming from.

Didn't John McCain say he would never allow pork barrel spending? Didn't this bailout include pork like wooden arrows, money for NASCAR and more? Didn't John McCain vote for all this pork? Didn't John McCain lie? Of course he did.

After your appearance on variousTV morning programs Senator McCain, wereyou for it before you were against it? You flipped flopped again. I am glad you kept silent, the last time you created a ruckus trying to be Mighty Mouse, you damn near ruined th United States!

Wasn't McCain the same guy last week who was suspending his campaign to rush back to Washington to talk one-to-one with party members? The same guy who accused Obama of only "monitoring the situation" and "phoning it in"?
My, my...funny how a few days pass after the big suspension that never was and the poll numbers dip, McCain changes course.

This is too funny! McCain, the man of action, shows action by doing nothing. Amazing. Was his reluctance--at best--to shake Obama's hand also a sign of his grasp of Senate tradition and politics? I especially like the last line,"I have never been good at intimidating people." Is THAT why he looks so very angry so much of the time?

There is a time for silence. But how deformedly odd that McCain lit up the media bonfire to promote his suspension of his campaign but then had nothing to say. On the one hand, he is vociferous about his self-sacrifice on behalf of the country, on the other, he hasn't a thing to contribute. The conclusion to this: he merely reacts to the world around him. The rational, analytical part of his brain is either small or rusted from disuse. The parrot on his shoulder, Palin the Moose Killer, is good for comic relief, but that is about all. This, oh Republic, is a ticket of doom that is doomed.

This is the 3rd blog i have seen your same post. Your are in the minority my friend. But if you want more of the same go ahead and vote McCain Palin. Just remember you had a chance to help change the direction of our country and you didnt act upon it....

The McCain campaign is collapsing. McCain is angry and confused that that he's not going to be chosen as President. Meanwhile he's going through the motions, looking for that gamble, that possible game-changer. Come on lucky 7's!!! Only a few more weeks before the voters put McCain out of his misery.

That statement by McCain was ridiculous. McCain got himself into a bind by pretending to suspend his campaign and rescue the "bailout bill". When it failed in the House, he looked like an idiot.

At least Obama had the guts to speak up on the senate floor in favor of a rescue bill while McCain sat quitely trying to politically calculate his next move.

When another bad jobs report, the Democrats should vote to show that they have a majority of Democrats in support of the "rescue bill" again and if the majority of House republicans vote against it, then they will shoulder the responsibility that follows.

McCain keeps quiet on the Senate floor to keep his options open. By doing so, he can gather material to further criticize Obama. McCain lacks a straight spine and like Bush, is always looking for a political advantage. Its the Rovian style which hopefully has run its course this election cycle.

So he suspended his campaign in order to rush to Washington and forge a bipartisan agreement last week, and now he's not speaking on the floor because he doesn't want to get in the way of the bipartisanship? Makes perfect sense to me. No matter the action or inaction from John McCain, it's always in the name of bipartisanship. Right.